Imaginary Friend
by Shiroikami
Summary: Years before the Labyrinth, a lonely little girl just needed a friend, and who best to fill that position but the Prince of Goblins?  Summary fail. Sorry.  One-shot.


**Disclaimer: The Labyrinth and it's characters don't belong to me. Which is good because I'd probably screw everything up if they did.**

_Imaginary Friend_

"It's not fair!" The little girl who had cried out stomped her foot on the frozen ground, wincing a little as the impact jarred her shin.

"What's not fair?" a quiet voice behind her asked. The little girl jumped in surprise and spun to face the intruder to her moment of anger. The man who stood there looking at her curiously was very tall, sporting fluffy blonde hair which stuck up at every angle. He was also seemed to be wearing makeup around his eyes, and sported one of the strangest outfits that the little girl had seen.

"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously. "My mommy and daddy said I shouldn't talk to strangers, and you are _very_ strange."

The man laughed in response to the little girl's blunt manner. "Well then, I'd best introduce myself so we won't be strangers anymore then." He said with a lopsided grin before bowing to the girl. "My name is Jareth, Prince of the Goblin Kingdom of the Labyrinth." He said formally. "I am very pleased to make your acquaintance Lady… ?"

"Sarah." The girl responded after a beat, dropping a surprisingly graceful curtsey considering the bulky winter clothing she wore. "Lady Sarah Williams of Newport." She managed to go for a few moments before giggling. "Are you really a prince?" she asked.

The man, Jareth, put on a hurt expression, although his eyes glittered with laughter. "Of course I am, my Lady! A gentleman never lies about such things to a beautiful lady."

Sarah giggled again. "I'm no beautiful lady! I'm five and a half!" she informed the man before her in the straightforward manner of small children everywhere. Jareth raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a fact?" he asked, although it seemed more a statement than a question. "Well, I suppose that I should inform you that princes never lie to anyone, so clearly you must be a beautiful lady." He said with such an air of solemnity that the little girl began to giggle again.

"You're silly." She said as the giggles faded. "I like you. Will you be my friend?"

Jareth raised an eyebrow. "Friend? Of course I will be your friend, but surely a young lady such as yourself has many friends your own age? Where would they be?"

The little girl's face clouded almost as soon as the question passed his lips. "We just moved here." She told him. "My mommy and daddy got mad at each other, and then my mommy went away and me and my daddy moved here. All my friends are back home." Sarah's bottom lip trembled as she spoke, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she looked steadily at the ground by Jareth's feet. "I'm sure it's my fault."

The Goblin Prince's fingers twitched, and a momentary frown crossed his face before he knelt down before the girl and laid a gloved hand on top of her head. "In that case, Lady Sarah Williams of Newport, I will be most honored to be your friend." He told her. That was all it took. Sarah threw her arms around the surprised Jareth's neck and began sobbing. For his part, Jareth put his arms gently around the little girl's shoulders and held her until the sobs faded and she pulled herself away.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I didn't mean to do that, but it's just not _fair_!"

Jareth shook his head. "Don't apologize." He told Sarah. "You had every right to be upset. Never apologize when you're not wrong, it gives people the wrong idea." For her part, she nodded seriously only to jump in surprise as a distant bell began to chime.

"Oh no! I'm going to be in so much trouble!" she exclaimed. "I have to go home now, Jareth. Will you be here when I come back?"

"Of course I will, Sarah. We're friends, aren't we? All you have to do is call my name, and I will be wherever you need me." He told the little girl, who looked confused for a moment, but then nodded and ran off in the direction of her home.

**-BREAK-**

Jareth was the best friend a little girl could have. He was funny and playful, and told the best stories. Stories about the goblins in his kingdom, and about the enormous Labyrinth which nobody had ever solved.

"I bet I could solve it." Sarah had said one day in the middle of the summer following their meeting. "I'm real good at mazes. I even finished a whole book of really hard mazes that my daddy gave me for my birthday last week!"

Jareth blinked in surprise. "You didn't tell me that it was your birthday last week, Sarah!" he said reprovingly. "I would have given you a gift."

The girl fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment. "I, well, I didn't want you to think that you had to get anything for me. I mean, we haven't known each other too long, and…" she trailed off under the Goblin Prince's gaze.

"And what, Sarah-precious?" he asked when the silence threatened to stretch out for too long between them.

"… and my dad says you're not real." Sarah murmured, her voice trailing off after the third word until it was almost inaudible.

To give him credit, Jareth didn't look surprised or upset, merely resigned. "And what do you think, Sarah? Am I real? Or am I just the figment of the imagination of a lonely, sad little girl who just wanted a friend?"

"I…" Sarah started, then shook her head. "I'm not sure." She finally said. "I mean, I can see you and hear you, and touch you, but that doesn't mean that you're not just made up. Nobody else just shows up whenever I say their name, and there's never anyone around when we talk, so maybe I _am_ the only one who can see and hear you…" the girl sighed.

Jareth tilted his head to one side and scrutinized the girl for a moment. "Now tell me Sarah-precious, does it _matter_ if I'm real or not?" he asked, gratified to be rewarded with an immediate denial.

"No. I don't care. You're the best friend I ever had, even if you are a grown up or imaginary. You play with me, and you tell the best stories. Even my daddy doesn't tell as good stories as you do."

Smiling, the Goblin Prince drew a crystal from the air. "In that case, will you allow me to give you a gift?" he asked.

The girl looked curiously at the crystal. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's a crystal, nothing more, but if you turn it this way, it will show you your dreams." He told her. "Do you want it?"

After a moment of hesitation, Sarah nodded and held out one hand. Carefully, Jareth placed the crystal in her palm and closed her fingers around it. "Take good care of it." He told her. "I'm trusting you to be sure that it's safe from harm."

Nodding vigorously, Sarah drew the crystal close to her face to stare into its depths. "It's beautiful." She said quietly. "Thank you, Jareth. I promise to keep it safe." Suddenly she looked up. "What about you?" she asked.

"What about me?" the man's expression and tone were confused.

"When's your birthday? I want to give you something too!" Sarah explained in a tone that made her sound like the grown up explaining something obvious to a small child. "It wouldn't be fair if I didn't."

Comprehension dawned in the Goblin Prince's eyes. "Ah, in that case, my birthday is the first day of August." He said and the girl drew in a breath. "But that's so _close_." She mumbled. "I won't have time to find anything good for you!"

Jareth smiled. "I'm sure you'll find something, precious. You're quite clever, so it shouldn't be difficult."

Sarah nodded and smiled as the distant bell rang the hour, and Sarah cradled the crystal she held to her chest with both hands as she bolted for home.

As the years passed, and Sarah grew up, the two spent less and less time together. One day, however, Sarah called upon the Goblin Prince in tears.

**-BREAK-**

"It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not _fair_!" the now-thirteen year old sobbed into the Goblin Prince's shoulder. "How _could_ he? He promised me he'd never love anyone besides me and my mom, but now… now he's going to marry that horrible woman!"

Jareth stroked the girl's hair gently as she continued to soak his shirt. "I'm sorry that you're so upset, Sarah." He murmured, receiving a weak and bitter laugh from the girl in return.

"_You're_ sorry? What do _you_ have to be sorry for? You're not abandoning me like _he_ is. You're always there for me." The girl looked up at the prince. "Promise that you'll always be there for me?" she asked, her tone almost desperate.

Jareth sighed resignedly. "I'm so sorry, precious. I wish that I could promise that, but…"

"_But_? But what?" Sarah almost shrieked. "What could be so important that you would leave me when I need you the most?"

The Goblin Prince's jaw clenched, and he looked to the side. "I am soon to ascend to the throne and become the Goblin King." He told the girl who was now pushing him away. "My father is dying, and when he does, the responsibilities that were his will fall to me. I won't be able to just come whenever you call." He was vaguely gratified by the stricken look which crossed Sarah's face.

"I… I didn't know. I didn't think…" the girl stammered, trying to make a complete thought.

"Didn't think what, precious? Didn't think that I would ever have to take up the mantle of Goblin King? Didn't think I had a family?" he paused. "Or didn't think that I was even real?"

Sarah shook her head slightly in denial. "No. I… I don't know. Maybe. Even now I can't be sure, you know. That you're not just a figment of my imagination. Part of me wants to believe, but the other part says that you can't be real." The girl closed her eyes and looked down. Jareth paused for a moment, then lifted her chin with the side of a gloved finger.

"Let me try to help you with that question, then." He said softly before leaning down and gently kissing the very surprised teenager on her mouth. The kiss lasted for only a second, and when Jareth pulled back, he was amused to note that the girl's eyes were slightly unfocused as one of her hands drifted up to touch her lips.

"I…" she started, but her voice came out as barely a whisper, so she stopped and cleared her throat before trying again. "I guess that proves it." She managed to say, fingers still hovering by her mouth.

Jareth looked at Sarah for a moment, but before either one could say any more, he blinked and looked off to one side. "I'm sorry, Sarah." He said after a moment. "I'm being called back home. I can't always be there for you from now on, but if you should ever need me…" he trailed off.

"I'll call anyways." The girl said with a slightly crooked smile. "Maybe I'll get lucky and you won't be too busy to spend time with…" she swallowed and glanced away and back before finishing her sentence, "… with an old friend."

The Goblin Prince took the girl's hands in his own, and carefully kissed the tips of her fingers. "Perhaps, if there had been more time, we could have been more than friends." He said softly. "But for now…" he pulled a crystal from thin air which dissolved into silver glitter before coalescing into a red, leather-bound book. "One last gift until we meet again."

Sarah stood quietly, clutching the book to her chest as she watched Jareth turn on his heel and fade away. Once he was gone, she opened the book to find a drawing of an owl and three words: _"Don't forget me."_


End file.
